Why Do You Hide Yourself?
1 wWhy, O Lord, do you stand far away?
Why do you xhide yourself in times of trouble?
2 In arrogance the wicked hotly pursue the poor;
ylet them be caught in the schemes that they have devised.
3 For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul,
and the one zgreedy for gain curses1 and renounces the Lord.
4 In the pride of his face2 the wicked does not seek him;3
all his thoughts are, a“There is no God.”
5 His ways prosper at all times;
your judgments are on high, out of his sight;
as for all his foes, he puffs at them.
6 He says in his heart, “I shall not be moved;
throughout all generations I shall not meet adversity.”
7 bHis mouth is filled with cursing and deceit and oppression;
under his tongue are mischief and iniquity.
8 He sits in ambush in the villages;
cin hiding places he murders the innocent.
His eyes stealthily watch for the helpless;
9 he lurks in ambush like a lion in his thicket;
he lurks that he may seize the poor;
he seizes the poor when he draws him into his net.
10 The helpless are crushed, sink down,
and fall by his might.
11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten,
he has hidden his face, dhe will never see it.”
12 Arise, O Lord; O God, lift up your hand;
eforget not the afflicted.
13 Why does the wicked renounce God
and say in his heart, “You will not call to account”?
14 But you do see, for you note mischief and vexation,
that you may take it into your hands;
to you the helpless commits himself;
fyou have been the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked and evildoer;
gcall his wickedness to account till you find none.
16 hThe Lord is king forever and ever;
the nations perish from his land.
17 O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;
you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear
18 to do ijustice to the fatherless and the joppressed,
kso that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
David Avenges the Gibeonites
1 Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. And David usought the face of the Lord. And the Lord said, “There is bloodguilt on Saul and on his house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.” 2 So the king called the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not of the people of Israel but of the remnant of the Amorites. Although the people of Israel vhad sworn to spare them, Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah. 3 And David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? And how shall I make atonement, that you may bless the wheritage of the Lord?” 4 The Gibeonites said to him, “It is not a matter of silver or gold between us and Saul or his house; neither is it for us to put any man to death in Israel.” And he said, “What do you say that I shall do for you?” 5 They said to the king, “The man who consumed us and planned to destroy us, so that we should have no place in all the territory of Israel, 6 let seven of his sons be given to us, so that we may xhang them before the Lord at Gibeah of Saul, the chosen of the Lord.” And the king said, “I will give them.”
7 But the king spared Mephibosheth, the son of Saul’s son Jonathan, because of ythe oath of the Lord that was between them, between David and Jonathan the son of Saul. 8 The king took the two sons of zRizpah the daughter of Aiah, whom she bore to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth; and the five sons of aMerab1 the daughter of Saul, whom she bore to bAdriel the son of Barzillai the Meholathite; 9 and he gave them into the hands of the Gibeonites, and they hanged them on the mountain before the Lord, and the seven of them perished together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of cbarley harvest.
10 Then Rizpah the daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until rain fell upon them from the heavens. And she ddid not allow the birds of the air to come upon them by day, or the beasts of the field by night. 11 When David was told what Rizpah the daughter of Aiah, the concubine of Saul, had done, 12 David went and took the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead, ewho had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hanged them, on the day the Philistines killed Saul on Gilboa. 13 And he brought up from there the bones of Saul and the bones of his son Jonathan; and they gathered the bones of those who were hanged. 14 And they buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin in fZela, in the tomb of Kish his father. And they did all that the king commanded. And after that God gresponded to the plea for the land.
War with the Philistines
15 There was war again between the Philistines and Israel, and David went down together with his servants, and they fought against the Philistines. And David grew weary. 16 And Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of the giants, whose spear weighed three hundred shekels2 of bronze, and who was armed with a new sword, thought to kill David. 17 But hAbishai the son of Zeruiah came to his aid and attacked the Philistine and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, i“You shall no longer go out with us to battle, lest you quench the jlamp of Israel.”
18 kAfter this there was again war with the Philistines at Gob. Then lSibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, who was one of the descendants of the giants. 19 And there was again war with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan the son of Jaare-oregim, the Bethlehemite, struck down mGoliath the Gittite, nthe shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.3 20 And there was again war at oGath, where there was a man of great stature, who had six fingers on each hand, and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in number, and he also was descended from the giants. 21 And when he taunted Israel, Jonathan the son of pShimei, David’s brother, struck him down. 22 These four were descended from the giants in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.
One in Christ
11 Therefore remember that xat one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called ythe circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, zalienated from the commonwealth of Israel and astrangers to bthe covenants of cpromise, dhaving no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus eyou who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our fpeace, who has made us both gone and has broken down hin his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 iby abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might jreconcile us both to God kin one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and lpreached mpeace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have naccess in oone Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,1 but you are pfellow citizens with the saints and members of the qhousehold of God, 20 rbuilt on the sfoundation of the tapostles and prophets, uChrist Jesus himself being the vcornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, wbeing joined together, grows into a xholy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being ybuilt together into a zdwelling place for God by2 the Spirit.
